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Maternal investment

Sex differences in avian yolk hormone levels

Nature volume 412, page 498 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

It has been suggested that female birds put more resources into eggs fathered by attractive males by laying larger eggs1 or by adding more testosterone2, but this inference could be undermined if eggs of different sex are provisioned differently, as these studies did not control for sex differences. Here we compare hormone concentrations in the yolks of male and female eggs and find that these are significantly different. Our results indicate that it is premature to conclude that female birds invest more in eggs sired by a preferred male, and raise the possibility that yolk sex steroids may be part of the sex-determining process in birds.

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Figure 1: Steroid concentrations (in pg per mg of yolk) in male (n = 43) and female (n = 45) eggs.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Evolution and Behaviour Research Group, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK

    Marion Petrie

  2. Center of Reproductive Biology, School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, 99164, Washington, USA

    Hubert Schwabl & Nanna Brande-Lavridsen

  3. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Terry Burke

Authors
  1. Marion Petrie
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  2. Hubert Schwabl
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  3. Nanna Brande-Lavridsen
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  4. Terry Burke
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Correspondence to Marion Petrie.

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Petrie, M., Schwabl, H., Brande-Lavridsen, N. et al. Sex differences in avian yolk hormone levels. Nature 412, 498 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35087652

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